Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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University of South Carolina MflMHAV ADPII 10 OOfl/l VoL97.No.86 www.dailygamecock.com IVIUINL'AT, ArmL 1Z, ZUUA - Since 1908 . Business team goes national BY Z'ANNE covell THE GAMECOCK Following the motto “Changing the World,” a USC entrepreneuri al team will compete in the 2004 ™ SIFE National Exposition in Kansas City, Mo., May 23-25. USC's Students in Free Enterprise team won first place at the SIFE regional competition in Charlotte April 5, qualifying them for nationals. According to SIFE adviser Annette Hoover, over 40 colleges and universities competed in the regional competition, and over 180 will be competing in the national competition. SIFE, a 25-year-old organization initiated by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton has been an official USC organization for five semesters. The group has com pleted 37 projects that champion free enterprise while lending a helping hand. • “SIFE is an outreach group that teaches the community about entrepreneurship, business ethics, market economics and personal finance through projects to help the university and inter national community,” said SIFE President Jeff Joyner, a fourth year management and real estate student. SIFE Vice President Daniel Yancey, a third-year retail man agement student, said this year’s 14 projects have touched more than 250,000 people. According to Hoover, one of the organization's biggest undertak ings this year is the Ecuador Education project, which involves collecting used computers and textbooks to set up schools and computer labs for Ecuadorian children. The collection will wrap up at the end of this month, when SIFE members will travel to Ecuador to help the students use the comput ers and learn how to speak English. SIFE members also worked with the Girl Scouts of Congaree to create the Girls Beyond the Bars program, a mentor system for 7- to 14-year-old girls who live in foster homes because their par ents are incarcerated. The organization also created the Cocky Wise Credit Counseling Program that works with college students to manage their finances and debt. Hoover said the average college student has an $8,000 debt outside of col lege loans. “They are a financially strapped group of people,” he said. SIFE members serve as certi fied credit counselors for stu dents. According to SIFE member Gabe Gregory, the regional com petition involved a seven-person team presenting projects demon strating to the judges how the group has worked to advance the community. “At competition all colleges and universities exhibit the pro jects they've done throughout the year,” Gregory said. “Competition is a way for each university to show how they are doing their little part, and who ♦ SIFE, SEE PAGE 3 Finally! rnui u ouuk i lot ur mi i i/flivirua Phil Mickelson chips from the side of the second green during the final round of the Masters Sunday at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Mickelson’s win ended his 0-for-42 losing streak in major tournaments . Group elects Scott leader BY GABRIELLE SINCLAIR THE GAMECOCK Student Government President Zachery Scott has been selected as an interim leader in the newly cre ated South Carolina State Student Association. A council of student body pres idents unanimously voted Columbia to hold the first confer ence, to'be held Oct. 2, and for Scott to lead the planning for it. ScOtt said Columbia was cho sen for its centrality to the state. “We've got a lot of resources to put towards the association,” he said. “We've got grad students who have been in similar associations. We have a lot of schools around us ... as well as satel lite campuses, that can benefit from this.” A state student association was formed a few years Scott ago but died out because of lack of continuity and funding shortages. Scott said the new association must learn from past mistakes. Clemson student government President Katy Bayleyss was se lected to head school recruitment, and Coastal Carolina's student government vice president has been assigned the task of devel oping a packet to deal with fund ing issues each South Carolina school might encounter. Every accredited South Carolina school of higher educa ♦ scon, SEE PAGE 3 *s.c. bill offers tax incentives to attract filmmakers BY JOCELYN MEYER THE GAMECOCK The state Senate and House of Representatives are working on legislation to bring filmmakers to South Carolina. The bills, called the “S.C. Motion Picture Incentive Act of 2004,” propose tax incentives for movie production companies spending money in the state. Of the $8 million that the general fund receives now, $3.5 million comes from movie admissions. The S.C. Film Commission wants to use that money to provide a 5 percent deduction on labor and a 7 percent deduction on supplies to filmmakers working in South Carolina. They also want to award a 10 percent tax credit when they spend at least half a million dol lars in the state. “Right now we’re not competi tive, really,” said Jeff Monks, com missioner for the Film Commission Department. The responsibility of the Film Commission Department, part of the S.C. Department of Commerce, is to encourage movie developers to come to South Carolina so they will buy their materials and get their talent from towns in the state. The Film Commission is work ing to combine the resources of the USC film school, which has a me dia arts program centered on the creative and business aspects of filmmaking; Trident Tech, which has a film department renowned for its advanced study on film and editing equipment; Clemson, which has combined its film and computer graphics departments to form a graduate program; and the Film Commission itself. This plan would help the col leges pool resources and make for easier credit transferal. The plan’s main goal is to have students work with filmmaking in South Carolina through the film commission. The students would be able to get easier hands-on ex perience, and filmmakers could use the students’ skills and labor. “So far, all three colleges have voiced their support for the plan,” Monks said. »' Enticing filmmakers to one loca tion or another has become an ex tremely competitive market. Canada uses the exchange rate to its advantage, since filmmakers go ing into that country gain more money. The Canadian government also lures them by refunding a third of what they spend on manual labor when they hire in the country. “South Carolina has to have a lot of incentives to compete, and when a film company can save millions by going to another coun try, this isn’t easy,” Monks said. Other countries have offered national armies to act as extras in blockbuster films such as “Cold Mountain” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocknews@gwm. sc. edu Lottery brightens state revenue BY AMY GEIER EDGAR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS As a USC student, Leah Sugarman is strapped for cash. But the 23-year-old said she usu ally can find money to play the South Carolina Education Lottery about once a month. “I also find a dollar or two to smoke cigarettes,” she said. “I just scrounge up some change from the car or sofa. It’s not a big deal.” Sugarman said she usually spends a dollar — and no more than $5 — on scratch-off tickets and the Powerball game when the jackpot gets high. “It’s just for fun. I really don’t think 1 m going to wm the jackpot or anything," she said. Sugarman is not alone. Despite a struggling economy and the na tion’s fourth-highest unemploy ment rate, South Carolinians con tinue to play the lottery — giving the state its one revenue bright spot. Since the games began in 2002, the lottery has generated more than $500 million for scholarships and other education spending. The lottery has funded more than 300,000 college scholarships and sent tens of millions of dollars to aid primary education, buy new school buses and support an en dowment fund for the state’s three research universities, said Ernie Passailaigue, the lottery’s execu tive director. John Oswald, who has worked as a clerk at the Tiger Express con venience store for three years, said he has a “steady clientele" buying tickets each day. “It seems to be just as steady as it’s always been.” Customers play the scratch-off and numbers games and when the Powerball jackpot gets high, “it gets really ridiculous how many people buy,” Oswald said. Board of Economic Advisors Chairman John Rainey said the ♦ LOTTERY, SEE PAGE 3 Rftk PHOTO BY GABKIELLE SINCLAIR/THE GAMECOCK ™ Regina Williams pulls out lottery tickets for the popular Shrimp & Grits scratch-off game at the College Mart on Devine Street. The lottery has generated more than $500 million since 2002. What'sJnside Rk ♦harvardschour Annual lecture Welcomes Louis Gates Jr. FOR MORE SEE F’AGE 3 J* allujah fighting between Sunni ins«rg^ts hits lull. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 3 ♦ CHEAT SHEET Steven Van Haren offers tips for surviving exams. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 4 ♦ BEAUTIFUL MUSIC USC symphony closes season with challenging selections. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5 ♦ LEATHER SHOES Baseball team takes two of three games from Florida in weekend series. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 8 Index Comics and Crossword7 Classified 10 Horoscopes7 Letters to the Editor 4 Online Poll 4 Police Report 2 Entertainment News2 USC Calendar 2 Visit us online at: www.dailygamecock.com